Envelop Desk

Designer:Bill Stumpf

Envelop is a revolutionary desk that moves to promote better posture and comfort. It’s available with standard pin-height adjustment and supports a range of seated postures. Finally, an adjustable desk that helps you, your chair, and your technology work in harmony, so you can feel better and work better.

Configure your Envelop Desk

Current Configuration

Joining the Two Hemispheres of Work

When you sit in front of a computer all day, you and your chair move, but the technology stays put. The result? A poor connection, back and neck pain, eyestrain, fatigue. The radical solution? Envelop, an adjustable, ergonomic desk that helps you move throughout the day while keeping your eyes focused on the work.

The Eyes Always Win

When you sit at your computer, your body aligns itself so that your eyes focus most easily on the monitor. Because the ability to view the monitor is most important, your eyes will always "win"—even if that means the rest of your body loses. Envelop's unique design features a surface that slides toward you and away from you, with a seventy-degree tilt that keeps technology in the correct ergonomic positions and maintains the visual display at the optimal distance.

All-day Comfort

It's called Envelop because the "infield"—the sliding, flexible support surface—envelops you as you work. As you recline in your chair it slides toward you to provide continuous flexible support for your forearms and wrists on the soft, resilient surface. Because Envelop moves and encourages movement, it lets you take full advantage of an ergonomic task chair with a synchronous tilt. It provides ergonomic support through a wide range of seated and standing postures, including a comfortable recline.

A Good Fit

Envelop fits whatever space you need it to be in. Its clean, trim aesthetic works harmoniously with any design, and you can have it in a wide variety of laminates, veneers, and finishes that lets you match any decor. It's also designed to fit just about anyone's body. The pocket that envelops your body accommodates from the fifth to 98th percentile of both women and men.

Physical Harmony

Seeing What's Not There

Why couldn't a desk do that?

Designers innovate by observing how things are and mulling over what might be. That's how Envelop began. When the late Bill Stumpf and Jeff Weber were designing the Embody chair, they became acutely aware of an unsolved problem: the lack of physical harmony between us and the computers with which we spend large portions of our days.

They began to consider the small universe of the chair, the worksurface, and the surrounding environment. While working on their idea that a chair could have positive effects on the seated body, they began to understand that even the best office chair can't do it all and to focus on the problem of the static surface. Which led them to rethink the concept of a work desk. Why did computer users have to move their laptops, keyboards, and monitors manually as they tried to maintain the right position and angle while sitting or standing?

Creating the Solution

Bill and Jeff began to see the chair and desk as a single system that could minimize musculoskeletal stress. Their aim was to create an adjustable interface between the two to accommodate the user's preferred patterns of postures and movements.

After Bill passed away, Envelop became Jeff''s project and he was responsible for most of the work that produced the final product. It represents both a great leap forward in ergonomic design and a logical continuation of Bill and Jeff's ideas about the body in work postures that had been guiding them for years.

The Problem With Computers

Bill and Jeff pondered the question of why people—even when sitting in the best ergonomic office chairs—still often had a tendency to hunch over like turtles when working at computers.

The different postures a person assumes continuously while seated throughout the day disrupt the relationship between the face and the computer plane. So computer users hunch, crouch, lean in toward that glowing screen. And the whole body follows suit, leading to back and neck pain, eyestrain, and fatigue.

Warranty

Care & Maintenance

With regular care and maintenance, your Herman Miller product will provide many years of superior performance and satisfaction. To maintain quality, please follow the cleaning procedures outlined here.

The instructions for the care and maintenance of Herman Miller products are provided to you as a service. No warranty is implied since results may vary.

Laminates

For normal cleaning, wash the laminate with a soft cloth and a solution of mild detergent and warm water. Rinse thoroughly and dry with a soft cloth.

For minor repair of burns or other stubborn marks, apply a nonabrasive liquid kitchen cleanser with a soft cloth soaked in warm water. Rub in the direction of the grain; use caution to avoid damaging the surface texture or gloss. If no grain direction is visible, rub with a light, circular motion.

Do not use powdered abrasives or other harsh cleansers like hypochlorite bleach, hydrogen peroxide, nitric or hydrochloric acids, or lye; they may deface the surface and change the finish color.

Molded Infield

Normal Cleaning

For normal cleaning, wash with a soft cloth soaked in mild detergent and warm water. Rinse thoroughly and dry with a soft cloth. Do not use solvents or abrasive kitchen cleaners.

Ink Stains

Apply isopropyl alcohol to a clean, damp absorbent cloth. Start at the outside of the ink stain and work towards the center. Apply pressure but do not rub too vigorously. It is important as the cloth becomes stained, use a clean section of the dampened cloth or the stain will spread. Apply isopropyl alcohol to the cloth as needed. If ink stain persists, use acetone in place of procedure above. This procedure is not intended for normal cleaning.

Normal Cleaning
Dust regularly with a slightly damp, soft, lint-free cloth. Wipe dry with a dry, soft cloth in the directionof the wood grain.Spills should be immediately wiped up with a damp cloth.

Once a month
Clean the surface with a soft cloth dampened with a quality cleaner formulated for wood furniture. Wipe the surface in the direction of the wood grain to remove dirt and fingerprints. Wipe dry with a clean, dry cloth.

Twice a year
Apply a good quality furniture polish with a soft cloth. Do not use aerosol-powered cleaners or polishes.
Also, do not use polishes containing waxes or abrasives, or polishes that are oil based.

Stains
Herman Miller veneers meet strict testing standards for resistance to wear, light, stains, water, and pressure. To reduce the risk of damage, take some precautions: Use coasters for glasses and mugs. If a glass top is added to the veneer surface, be sure it rests on felt pads. Don’t place a potted plant on a veneer surface unless it’s in a water-tight container or in a drip tray.Don’t let vinyl binders stay on a surface for very long. Use protective pads under equipment with “rubber” cushioning feet. Some chemical compounds used in the feet on office equipment, such as printers and monitor stands, may leave permanent stains or marks.

Minor repair of water rings, stains, and scratches
Rub the surface lightly in the direction of the wood grain using No. 000 steel wool. Apply a scratch-removing polish with a color and value that simulate the veneer. If the scratches are deep, consult a professional furniture refinisher.

Other Damage
Wood is susceptible to bruising and scratching from heavy office equipment, so we encourage a protective surface is placed underneath. Objects should be lifted instead of dragged across a surface. Protective pads should be used under items with a rough bottom, like pottery. Denting, caused by extreme pen pressure when writing, can also damage veneer. Use desk pads or some other protection where a lot of paperwork is done.
Sunlight can damage veneer as well, so veneer surfaces should not be in direct sunlight. To help a surface age evenly, users can periodically move items on their desks so that the entire surface is exposed to an even amount of light over time. In addition to light, extremely high or low humidity is a damaging environmental factor. Herman Miller suggests maintaining a relative humidity of 35-65 percent.

Other Manufacturers' Products

2 years - Magis- and Mattiazzi-branded products are warranted for two years from the date of purchasse by the original purchaser.

What's Covered

Our warranty covers everything—including electrical components, casters, pneumatic cylinders, tilts, and all moving mechanisms. It recognizes the changing nature of work and the need for products that can stand up to continuous use. And it means that when warranty work is performed in the U.S. and Canada, Herman Miller foots the bill.
At Herman Miller, we work for a better world around you. Our products—and our promise to stand behind their quality 100 percent—are designed to improve your environment whether it's an office, hospital, school, home, an entire building, or the world at large.

How to Schedule Service

If you need product service or repair, please contact the Herman Miller dealer, retailer, or our online store where you purchased your product. They will be able to make the final determination whether the issue is specifically covered under the warranty and eligible for replacement or repair.